"tonight is gonna be
the loneliest."
IF ONLY RED KNEW WHAT fun she was into when she woke up in the bed her mother provided the next morning. Red could have slept all day in the comfortable home, all the stress had somehow been lifted.
But yet a ring of her phone changed everything. It was from an unknown number to her phone. Red rose out of the bed, picking up the phone. 'Attachment One Video' Red furrowed her brows, clicking on the notification.
'Hey, Red. Just thought you should see this.' The message read. Red clicked the video, immediately spotting Rafe Cameron and the boy she'd thought was going to be her boyfriend at some point having it out on the dock of the country club.
Red covered her mouth as she watched the fight play out. She even heard some of the things Zack had said about her and what Rafe's response was. Tears of an unknown emotion spilled down her cheeks.
It was hard to tell who won the fight, because the fight ended abruptly when a staff member broke the two battling teens up. Finally, Red had had enough and she shut her phone off.
She needed to go back, she knew she did. Not only for the pogues, but also for Rafe. Red packed all of her stuff back up and hustled down the stairs.
"Red, where are you going?" Eleanor asked. Red wiped some of her tears. "What's going on?"
"I'm sorry, mom. Thank you for everything, but I have to go. My friend's need me." Red briefly explained. She rushed into the room where her grandfather was. He seemed surprised to see her. "Papa, I need your help. Quickly."
"Okay?" Martian sat her down in the chair across from him. "What's going on?"
"I think my friend's are in trouble. But I don't know where they are." Red spoke in a rushed tone. "You're a private investigator, is there any way you know how to track someone?"
"Well, Red, you're lucky your grandpa is me, because I know exactly how to track someone. Give me your phone." Red handed her grandfather her phone. He spent about five minutes on that thing, asking who she needed to track. Red responded with John B, who's contact was JB in her phone. Martian handed her phone back with a smirk. "There."
John B's location was moving rapidly on Red's screen. "How did you do that?"
"You have his location on The Find My App." Martian replied with a smile. Red chuckled. "Simple as that. I'm no electronic geek."
"Thank you, grandpa. I promise I'll be back. I just have to do something first." Red immediately ran out of the door and all the way over to the fairy, where he'd booked her ticket. Red remembered something John B said about his dad, but if anyone knew where they were, it was Rafe Cameron.
The 8-hour ferry ride could not have seemed longer when she needed to get somewhere fast. She actually wanted to see Rafe the most, but tried to find the right words for her to say.
When the ferry came to a halt in front of the dock, Red took a breath, climbing off the large boat. The energy in The OBX was a lot different than the energy in Charleston.
Now, she just needed to find Rafe. So without trying to think about it, Red went home to where her car was before making her way over to The Cameron Estate.
Rafe's bike was out front, which was good enough of a sign that he was home. The side door of the back yard was wide open, which allowed Red to slip inside the house.
It was quite a mess from the party a few nights earlier, but she could still make her way around the house. She climbed up the stairs to the second floor of the large home. Rafe's room was just around the corner from the stairs.
Red stepped into the seemingly empty room. His bed wasn't made, and there were clothes all over the floor. Red's eyes landed on a gun laying on the edge of the bed, just before she reached out, she turned around quickly at the sound of footsteps.
"Red?" Rafe questioned, confused as to why she was in his room. Red turned around, meeting his eyes.
"Rafe." Red muttered. He'd just come out of the bathroom. She tried to find exactly what to say to the boy, but instead of saying anything, her eyes landed on the bruises all over his face. She approached him, laying her hands on the bruises. "Is this from..."
Rafe nodded his head, stepping away from the girl. "What do you want, Red?"
"I don't know..." Red sighed, beginning to walk away from the boy. "I guess I just wanted to... thank you. I saw the video." Rafe hung his head down. "You stood up for me, why?"
"I wasn't just gonna stand there and let him do all those things to you." Rafe explained. Of course, he didn't want to be straight forward and tell her the real reason. Because the kiss had gotten to his head. "Believe it or not, I still care about you."
"I care about you too." Red replied. Rafe scoffed, as if the girl was lying. "Rafe I am so sorry. About everything. About pushing you off that boat, about... literally everything. I shouldn't have done that to you. I shouldn't have messed with your head like that. I was angry about everything you'd done that I wasn't thinking about how much I missed having you around."
Rafe took a breath, nodding his head slowly. "Yeah. I'm sorry too. For uh... calling you-"
"A skank?" Red finished. Rafe pursed his lips, nodding. "No worries. I've been called worse." Red sat down beside Rafe on the bed. "And... if it matters. Everything I said at Singh's place... I meant it. Every word."
"You did?" Rafe gave her a small smile, to which Red nodded her head. "Well, that's good."
"But... I was kind of hoping you could help me with something." Red as of course talking about the whole pogues thing. "You probably don't want to hear it... but do you know anything about why your sister has gone to South America and how she got there."
Rafe took a breath, nodding his head. "Yeah- yeah. Something about finding John B's dad. He was kidnapped or something."
"That's what he was trying to tell me at the party..."
"Yeah, I'm guessing."
"Then I need to get out of here like yesterday."
Rafe grabbed Red's arm before she could get up. "How? You can't get all the way to South America. Not without a plane." Red sighed, sitting back down beside Rafe. "I... I have a plane."
"You do?" Red asked, suddenly having her hopes up higher than the Empire State. Rafe nodded his head. "You're willing to help me?" Rafe nodded again, this time he seemed more unsure.
"Under one condition."
"Anything."
"You have to convince your friend's not to rat me out. And, you're not going alone. I'm coming with you."
"Deal." Red put her hand out for a shake, which Rafe gladly took. "Then let's go."
"Right now?"
"Yes!"
"We can't, my plane's under maintenance until tomorrow morning. That's the earliest." Rafe replied. Red nodded her head in understanding. "Until then, we have to stay here."
"Hey, do you wanna go get something to eat?" Red nudged Rafe gently, thinking of an idea of what they could do. "I know it's already like 8:00, but we can go get a bang bang."
"Everything's closed."
"You're such a negative Nancy. Plus, the dollar store isn't." Red chuckled. She loved going to the dollar store for snacks then eating them in a random place. Rafe nodded his head with a smile. "Great, let's go."
Red followed Rafe down the stairs and outside the house. Rafe hopped on his bike, waiting for Red to get on with him. Damn, did she have a type for boys with bikes or something? The last time she'd been on a bike was with JJ.
Red took a breath, climbing onto the back. "Go over the speed limit, and our deal's off, buddy." She joked, grabbing a hold of Rafe's waist.
Rafe revved the engine of the bike with a small chuckle. Red laughed lightly, the bike starting to cruise down the streets of The Outer Banks. Red liked the wind in her hair more than she remembered.
The two would soon arrive at the dollar store and buy a whole bunch of crap before they rushed over to the beachside and began eating them one at a time. They'd already been there for about an hour, just talking and laughing about random things. Red was actually having a good time with Rafe. A better time that she'd like to admit.
"So... Do you think Andie should have been with Duckie or Blane?" Red asked, continuing their controversial movie opinions topic.
"Honestly, Duckie."
"I know. Duckie was waiting for her the entire time, then Blane came along and Andie chose him? No. Absolutely not."
"What was that one movie that you tried to get me to watch? Beautiful life?" Rafe asked, recalling a movie Red urged Rafe to watch years ago but never did. But all Red could think about was how Zack had deceived her.
"Life is Beautiful. I tried to get Zack to watch it." Red rolled her eyes at the thought of him. Good thing she hadn't fallen head over heels for the boy. "I told him I'd watch Star Wars if he watched Life Is Beautiful. So I'm never looking at Luke Skytalker the same ever again."
"It's Skywalker. His name is Luke Skywalker." Rafe corrected, earning an eye roll from the girl next to him. "You know what, I'll watch your movie."
"You will?"
"Yeah, sure." Rafe chuckled. He looked over at Red, who gave him a sweet smile before resting her head on her shoulder. "Hey, Bee."
"Yeah?"
"If you didn't meet JJ... and if you never met Zack. Would you consider me?" Rafe asked, trying not to come off to forward.
"Yeah." Red replied with a small smile. "But... It wouldn't work."
"Why not?"
"I don't know... it just wouldn't." Red removed her head from Rafe's shoulder, getting up from her spot. "You were my first kiss, though."
"I remember." Rafe got up, beginning to walk beside her back to the motorcycle. He stopped in front of the bike. "Are you getting on?"
"No, my house is just a few blocks away."
"Okay." Rafe replied, kind of let down. He wanted to kiss her that night, but realized he missed his chance when she began walking away. She was only a few feet away from the boy when he yelled for her. "Red, wait."
Red turned around, still standing a few feet away. "Yeah?"
"Is that it?" Rafe scoffed, stepping a little closer to her. "I just had the best night of my life. Because I was with you. And I asked you, and you said it wouldn't work. But the truth is, ever since you kissed me at Singh's... ever since we were kids, I've wanted that. I've wanted to be with you. I wanted you to love me."
"Rafe... It's not gonna work out." Red sighed, not letting herself put her high guard down. "I told you."
"Why? I promise you, if you just gave me a chance. I can get better. Because the truth is..." Rafe stepped the rest of the way forward to where he and Red were only about a foot apart. "I want to be with you. I want the white picket fence, I want one and a half kids. You've given me so much time to think about it... and I know what I want. This whole time I've been looking for something but it was never what I wanted. You're what I want. And there is nothing that is ever, ever going to change that." Rafe stepped even closer to Red, their faces only inches away from each other's. "I love you, Red. And I will wait... however long it takes you to realize. I'll do whatever I need to do to make you love me. That kiss, it felt real. Just let me prove it to you."
"Rafe..." Red gave him a half smile. It was clear to her now why she'd kissed her back. It wasn't because her heart thought he was JJ. It was because she loved him too. As much as she hated to admit it. "I love you too."
"Finally." Rafe let out a breath, pulling Red into him as their lips met again, this time. It wasn't Rafe that had kissed her. Well, it was. But Red was doing it because of him.
Red pulled away for a second, meeting Rafe's eyes again. Rafe smiled at her, to which she smiled back, melting into his touch again.
He was there the entire time. How could she not see it? Red was so distracted by JJ, and Rafe was too distracted by the gold, that both of them forgot about how much they loved each other.
But now, it was clear to both of them that they did. And it was real. It wasn't the hair dye that opened a new chapter in Red's life, it was Rafe Cameron that opened a whole new book.
loving shameron so far...
hehheh